Consuming media presentations (e.g., audio and/or video presentations) generally involves listening to audio information and/or viewing video information. Media presentations may include, for example, radio programs, music, television programs (free, satellite, cable, internet protocol television (IPTV), etc.), movies, still images, recorded media (e.g., Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), personal video recorder), playback, video games, etc. Media-centric companies and/or metering entities such as, for example, advertising companies, broadcast networks, etc. are often interested in the viewing, listening, and/or media behavior interests of audience members to better market their products and/or to improve their programming. Techniques used to monitor and/or measure the behavior of audience members often include the use of diaries/logs and/or one or more metering devices.
Metering devices may be carried by audience members and/or placed on or near a television and/or other monitored presentation device. Such a meter may include one or more sensors to detect and/or collect audio and/or video content in, for example, the audience member's household, such as in a family room that has a television, cable and/or satellite set-top unit, VCR, stereo, video game console, etc. The one or more sensors may detect and/or collect audio codes, video codes, signatures, channel tuning and/or changes, audience member movement, and/or remote control (e.g., infra-red (IR) sensors) inputs. To determine which program the household member is consuming, the meter may collect codes embedded or otherwise associated with the presented media and/or signatures (e.g., audio samples of the media to which the audience member is exposed) and send such codes and/or signatures to a central office and/or metering entity. The central office utilizes collected code(s) to index a lookup table to perform media content identification, and/or compares the collected signatures to one or more databases of reference signatures to determine a match to identify the media.